pictured is Senior, Thomas Keener, the picture is courtesy of Brad Anderson
The Abilene Cowboy baseball hosted Rock Creek Tuesday at Ted Power Field. Rock Creek entered the game 5-2, 2-0 and are defending 4A State Champions. Abilene on the other hand entered the contest 0-4, 0-2 after being swept by 5A Salina South and at Concordia. The first game of the baseball double-header with Rock Creek was broadcasted on KABI. The Cowgirl softball team also played Rock Creek and was swept 8-0 and 12-1
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
GAME 1: Abilene 7 Rock Creek 6
ABILENE: Cowboy Senior, Thomas Keener scored the winning run in the bottom of the 7th on a sac fly by Sophomore, Jake Bartley to give Abilene their first victory over the year. The Cowboys have had recent success against Rock Creek. Abilene handed the Mustangs their only loss of the season a year ago.
In their final at-bat, Keener reached base on a single and was advanced to third on a base hit by Junior, Lane Hoekman. Keener had a big game. He reached base safely three times and scored twice. He also picked up the victory on the mound. Jake Bartley pitched the first 4 innings and Keener finished the final 3 innings of the game. Keener gave up just 2 earned runs and struck out 3.
Rock Creek took the early lead in the game. They scored two runs in the 1st inning. The Mustangs got runs from Donovan Debita and Ryker Zoeller. In the 2nd inning, Abilene got a run from Junior, Heath Hoekman. He reached base on a single and scored on an error.
Rock Creek added to their lead with 2 runs in the 3rd inning. The Mustangs got a run from Zoeller, who later scored on an RBI single by Noah Valburg. Brock Lubbers scored the second run of the inning on an Abilene error.
Abilene answered with a big 3rd inning of their own. The Cowboys scored 4 runs in the 3rd and took a 5-4 lead. Abilene Junior, Nolan Wilkens led off the inning with a walk. The Cowboys then got three consecutive hits by Keener, Lane Hoekman and Jake Bartley. Hoekman drove in Wilkens, Bartley drove in Keener and Ethan Evans then drove in Hoekman and Bartley with a double.
Rock Creek retook the lead with their final 2 runs in the top of the 6th. Debita drove in Daniel Weisbender and Peter Martine with a double to right field. Abilene tied the game in the bottom of the 6th with a Heath Hoekman run. He scored when Senior, Tyler Holloway reached on an error.
Mustang Senior, Cooper Sieben started the game. He pitched 5 innings and gave up 4 earned runs. Senior, Ryker Zoeller pitched the final 2 innings and took the loss. He gave up 1 earned run. Rock Creek 4 errors in the game which 2 of them contributed to Abilene runs.
𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲
Senior – Thomas Keener
Junior – Heath Hoekman
Junior – Nolan Wilkens
GAME 2: Rock Creek 27 Abilene 10
ABILENE: Rock Creek exploded offensively in the second game with the Cowboys and walked away with a split in the double-header. Abilene fell behind 10-1 and then rallied to pull withing 12-10 before the Mustangs put the game away.
The Cowboys got good offensive performances from Wilkens, who went 2-2, with a run scored and a walk. Keener also was productive with 2 runs scored.
Rock Creek improved to 6-3, 3-1 with the victory and the Mustangs will host 8-0, 2-0 Concordia on Friday. Abilene is now 1-5, 1-3 and the Cowboys will travel to SES on Friday.
